


Water Moon

by hydrofloride



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:24:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1586537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrofloride/pseuds/hydrofloride
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yunho meets the water god.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water Moon

Yunho meets the water god and he's a wisp of moonlight and night. Face half-hidden by a battered deer mask, form wrapped in an old kimono, he doesn't make much of a god but Yunho knows it's him. Yunho gulps. Yunho wants.

“Your mask. . .” is all he manages.

 

  
The air is clear and sweet-smelling, and Yunho can almost taste it as he walks among the cluster of stalls, the yellow, red and orange lights. Every few steps, he stops to greet people behind the stalls, try traditional candy, talk to friends. He tries goldfish scooping, and after a few failed attempts with the creature breaking through his poi, he decides to go on the next game.

He allows himself to smile at the hundreds of lanterns lighting up the night, the result of his hard work. He stays for a bit behind a stall full of them and related merchandise, chatting with the seller. It's not a working night for Yunho, he's been preparing for the summer festival for the few previous weeks; it's time to enjoy it and leave the work to relatives.

After swaying to the sound of drums, joining a couple of friends and seeing the fireworks - Yunho's favourite part, he leaves.

He walks by the seashore, passing the small, natural harbor of the village, and climbs up a lane. He finds himself in a cove, strewn with pebbles and boulders, waves breaking out in big outcrops of rock.

Yunho was ten years old when he first heard of the water god. Every year, on the night of the summer festival, the water god would take human form and walk ashore, his grandmother told him. Upon hearing that, eyes wide with excitement, Yunho forgot all about the festival and ran to the beach.

He would wait at the small gulf every year, hands on his knees or balled up in excitement and anticipation, but no god ever appeared.

It has become something of an annual routine; Yunho doesn't expect to meet any deity but he likes to go there and sit, watching the sea.

 

 

The god appears before him so abruptly Yunho feels like he's caught doing something he isn't supposed to. _It's real, he's real_ , he repeats to himself and he's vaguely aware of calling out to him. He climbs down from his sitting place; careful steps on the slippery rocks, suddenly afraid that if he rushes, the stranger will thin out and disappear. The water god is looking at him, regal head raised proudly, as if in an unspoken challenge.

“I'm Yunho,” he tries again when he stands in front of the creature. He knows he's staring and it's rude but he kind of can't stop. “What's your name?” The god's kimono is a faded blue and there might be white flowers on it, or waves; he can't tell.

“Changmin.” There's a soft quality to his voice. He tilts his head. “And. . . what about my mask?”

“Erm, I can fix it for you. If you like. I can make you a new one,” Yunho says with a smile.

Changmin takes off the deer face, shaking dark curls out of his eyes. He examines the ripped edges of plastic for a moment before looking up to meet Yunho's gaze again. He is impossibly beautiful; large nose curving elegantly, large mouth, eyes brown and big and watery.

“Oh? Why?” He raises his eyebrows and Yunho wonders if maybe he offended him – he doesn't have prior experience with gods' tempers after all.

“Ah. . . it looks old and - I didn't mean to – ” he starts, but Changmin waves him off. There's a wicked glint in his eyes, the start of a smile on his lips.

“I know. You are right, it is too old and wrecked.” He extends his hand, offering the mask. “Okay.”

 

 

Changmin is all Yunho thinks about for the following week. His dark eyes and half-smiles haunt his thoughts and dreams, but when Yunho reaches out, the water god is gone. His preoccupation with Changmin both upsets and confuses him, and, indignant, he takes to work to get his mind off him.

Yunho spends every summer in his grandmother's village, helping her with work since he was a child. She owns a small shop which sells lanterns, masks and related goods, which she makes on her own. Her customers are mostly locals and sometimes she gets special orders from the big temples in nearby villages. His grandmother retired this year and it's the first time Yunho took over all the work by himself, while he's in summer break from college, waiting for other relatives to take over the shop.

He sits in his workshop, designs the mask over and over again, but as much as he tries, he can't get it right and ends up distracted. He wonders if Changmin did some kind of god-magic to him, and if it's ever going to pass.

 

 

The water god is standing in the waterfront, looking at the sea, the waves licking at his bare feet, wetting the ends of his kimono.

The dusk is smudged with soft patches of gray, purple and orange-pink mixing in the sky. It's quiet.

Yunho shuffles in the cobbles behind him and Changmin turns around, nods slightly in greeting, arms folded into large sleeves. In the last light of the day, he looks breathtaking. Yunho takes in the long eyelashes, the high cheekbones. . . the big, comical ears, he realizes. Though he possesses grace only a godly creature can have, at the same time he's a little gangling - like he's unsure of his body, edges tinted with awkwardness.

Changmin isn't perfect, he realizes. Yunho doesn't find him perfect, and the knowledge placates him a little, he breathes in relief; it means he's not in love after all.

He tries to find other imperfections: his eyes look puffy, his mouth is funny-looking - like a rosebud - and. . . oh. He's staring again, he knows, so he finally smiles at the god before standing next to him, waves crushing quietly under them.

Changmin doesn't ask after the mask but Yunho tells him in a breath he's not done yet - it has to be perfect, then stops when he notices Changmin isn't very interested.

“You know, I used to come here and wait for you every summer when I was little,” he says after a few minutes of silence.

Changmin turns to look at him.

“You know me?”

“You are the water god, I know you are so – ”

Eyebrows raise in both surprise and amusement – mostly amusement, Yunho thinks.

“Oh? 'You know'? How do you 'know'?”

“If not, then you're an incredibly gorgeous lunatic who wanders around barefoot on rocky coves coincidentally on special nights of the summer.”

That pulls a big, gummy smile from Changmin – a little laughter, which makes his eyes uneven. It makes Yunho a little bit in love.

“Gorgeous?”

“Well. . . you are," he says, smiling wide at him, aware of the flush spreading on his cheeks.

“Thank you,” Changmin says. “Maybe I came for the summer festival.” There's laughter on his face and he's sweet.

“Are you going to be difficult about this?”

“I'm a god, I'm allowed to be difficult,” Changmin tosses his head back, looks at the water. “So you wanted to see a god? Why here?”

"It's the end of the village, I thought I would definitely see you this way. You know, the story about you walking the village on the night of the festival," he blushes a little as he says, ". . . I was hoping I'd meet a beautiful mermaid-like goddess."

Changmin hums for a second, amused, looks at Yunho. “Too bad I'm not one, huh.”

It's really, really too bad.

 

 

They start to meet often, almost daily. Yunho usually finds Changmin waiting for him at the seaside, or sometimes swimming around the reefs. Sometimes, he arrives at the cove to see a thousand droplets rise from the sea and whirl and dance and unite, then fall to reveal the god's long form, shimmering and magnificent. It leaves Yunho in awe, but also painfully aware of his own mortality and insignificance.

He wants to know everything about Changmin but other than snide remarks about how uncultured and ill-mannered the Oni are, Changmin doesn't talk much about himself. Yunho recalls the myth that narrates how the god first appeared - his village would fall to the hands of three ruthless Oni crossing the seas, when the water god descended from the Heavens and raised a storm and tall waves that drowned the demons. When he asks Changmin about it, the only answer is vague confirmation that he is indeed the god the story describes.

Changmin is water, falling through his hands before Yunho has time to figure him out. He's sometimes incredibly haughty and dismissive of humans, he insists he doesn't understand them, while moments ago has snorted a 'typical' at them, and sometimes, eyes huge and curious, he's ready to listen, to learn, and his whole face smiles, excited and happy.

Yunho wants, wants, wants.

The big ears that flush and give Changmin away whenever he's embarrassed, the round eyes in which Yunho thinks he can see a trail of the universe, the way Changmin tosses his head, proud or vexed, he wants everything.

Changmin is quick to anger, Yunho learns, causing waves to splash over them when Yunho causes his momentary wrath.

'Changminnie' he calls him one day while they're sitting on a rock ledge, legs in the water.

Changmin turns to him, an incredulous look on his face.

I'll have you know I am a god," he scoffs, droplets reaching up to Yunho's chest.

"I am aware," Yunho laughs and has to try hard, really hard not to kiss him.

He is every bit in love.

 

 

There's a small shrine not too deep in the forest north of the village. It's blighted with signs of abandonment, run down and forgotten. The writing on the low stone pillars is almost unintelligible, eaten away by rain and time, the stone ring at the base green with moss. Grass climbs up the guardian statues at the entrance, snakes around antlers, almost fitting, splits a deer head in two. The rice paper on one window is torn down and the wooden frame also broken, branches and leaves piling up inside and outside.

It's dedicated to him, Changmin tells Yunho when they come across it while walking through the woods one day. It is where the god is enshrined, his mortal residence. When Yunho asks him about its neglected state - he doesn't even remember it existed, Changmin just shrugs, and Yunho thinks he answered his own question.

They're sitting on the grass near the shrine, sun slipping through the trees above them, air humming with the sound of cicadas. Yunho is explaining something, hands moving in all directions and Changmin watches him lazily, weight resting on his elbows, knees bent. When he brags a little, Changmin looks up and closes his eyes before declaring he would beat him at any stupid human game.

Yunho chuckles, _I'd like to see you try, Changminnie_ , and nudges Changmin's thigh with his knee, retaliates when Changmin shoves back forcefully. Their knees press together.

Yunho stares at him for a long moment. Warm afternoon light cuts across his face, over high cheekbones, making his hair shiny.

He leans in and kisses him.

They melt into each other, kisses that leave Yunho breathless, a little drunk. He's about to say something cliche and stupid but Changmin swallows it, deepening the kiss and making it wet and messy. Groaning against his mouth, Yunho curls a hand around the god's neck and pulls him closer. His hands slide to his shoulders, the planes of his back, his waist. He mouths at his jawline, the long, pale neck, licking and biting, until Changmin is squirming against him. He bites harder, rubbing at the spot behind his ear at the same time, reveling in the way the god moans loudly, hands instantly at Yunho's hair.

Changmin pulls away and gets on his back. He's panting, lips swollen and red, hair tousled. Yunho can't believe this is happening - the water god under him like this, willing and responsive, flushed, spreading his legs for him.

He is divine, a rare gift, but there's no reverence in the way Yunho's hands pull his kimono open, impatient to touch and claim. He strokes the taut stomach, runs his thumbs up and down until Changmin is arching off the ground and gasping at him to hurry up. Yunho touches the inside of his thighs, then lowers his head to suck on the juncture between inner thigh and groin, and Changmin whimpers, closing his legs around Yunho's head.

Grabbing them, Yunho slides up Changmin's body and takes himself out. They rub against each other, hot and fast and desperate. It's over almost too soon, both of them spilling between their bodies.

At night Yunho kisses Changmin again under the stars.

 

 

Yunho’s room is an old tatami room in the back, next to his workshop. There are clothes thrown everywhere, over the large futon sprawling across the room, and the two western-style chairs. A desk spans half a wall in a corner, knives, paint and glue piling up on it, along with a couple of books. Two shoji sliding doors lead out to a small garden.

Changmin huffs a little at the visible dustballs and the overall mess.

"I should have known you’d be like that," Yunho laughs, completely unapologetic.

Changmin starts staying the night. There isn't much work for Yunho to do, and he has the house to himself for the summer, so they spend their days eating, sometimes watching old drama reruns and fucking. At first, they find themselves in bed most of the time, not being able to keep their hands off each other. Changmin is a sweet and responsive lover and he likes having control as much as giving it up, and it's just like him, Yunho thinks. He stretches next to Yunho after sex like a cat, then wanders around the house, completely unabashed in his nakedness.

Yunho likes to watch him when he’s curled in his arms at night, locks sticking to his forehead and neck, because Changmin always gets sweaty when he sleeps. He likes waking up to next to Changmin, who rolls almost out of the futon during the night. It’s always intimate, their faces always close. Yunho gets used to the creature’s warm body pressed against his.

Sometimes they sit on the back porch and drink, Yunho usually ending up passed out in Changmin’s arms. Yunho looks up at the sky and the moon and he looks at Changmin and he knows Changmin is made of them; he becomes aware that they don’t belong together. This is only temporary and the time when they have to part will undoubtedly come.

"I lo - " he almost says when he is inside Changmin one night and watches as the god’s eyes widen impossibly big, scared and happy.

I love you, he whispers into his hair later, as he kisses his neck and shoulder, when Changmin is almost asleep.

 

 

Changmin examines his ripped mask.

"You haven’t fixed it," he says.

"My hands were kinda full," Yunho grins, looking up at the night sky, and gulps down most of his beer.

"Slower. I don’t want to have to carry you inside in half an hour."

"You’ll probably have to help me inside anyway."

"You’ll probably have to sleep outside."

Yunho laughs; he knows Changmin will carry him to the futon and get him under the covers and curl around him. Changmin who covers him with clothes when he falls asleep on the patio on lazy afternoons; who scolds him when Yunho bumps into furniture and hurts himself, then kisses his bruises in bed, maybe adds a few of his own. Changmin cares.

They’re quiet for a while, the only sound around them the clinking of the wind chime hanging from the eaves of the roof. It’s a little cold so Changmin folds himself further into Yunho’s sweatshirt he’s wearing.

Yunho reaches and takes the mask from him, then leans back on his elbows.

"Why do spirits wear masks?" he asks. "I’ve seen it in pictures and I’ve always wondered."

Changmin hugs his knees, brings his shirt over them, thinking. ”Lower-level demons often use them to pass as humans and cause trouble.” He smiles as if he’s remembering something amusing. ”For gods, it’s like an emblem. An ornament that represents who they are.”

Yunho stares at him for a few minutes.

"You really look like one. A deer," he says.

Changmin makes a soft, humming sound. “I guess. Everyone else thought so too. . .”

"Everyone?"

"Izanami, Amaterasu - my mother, my sister. . ."

Yunho heard about them when he was a little boy.

According to the myth, the god of the waves was banished from Heaven for causing havoc; after a fight with Amaterasu, his sister, Susanowo, also known as Changmin-no-Mikoto stole her jewelery, ruined her rice fields and almost got one of her retainers killed. He was exiled to Earth permanently as a punishment.

"So. . . you were really banished from Heaven?" he asks after a while.

"I kind of ran away actually," Changmin says, taking a big gulp of his beer.

"A runaway god?" Yunho smiles; he thinks Changmin is precious, a little lovely.

There's a beat of silence, then he asks, "Weren't you lonely?"

Changmin looks at him, lips set in a thin line, then quickly turns his head away. Yunho sees his jaw tighten.

"I get lonely easily. . ." Yunho trails off.

"I wasn't," Changmins whispers, eyes far away.

 

Deterred by the silence, Yunho doesn't ask anything else.

A breeze picks up, flicks over them. Changmin stands up. "Let's go to bed," he says and goes inside, his footsteps soft on the wooden deck.

He's suddenly distant and guarded, slipped into this weird mood he gets sometimes and Yunho wants to soothe him, kiss it away, but knows that Changmin won't say another word for the night.

He follows Changmin, and they get under the covers together. He slides an arm around him, and when Changmin leans back into the touch and turns his head around to kiss him on the cheek, Yunho presses closer and goes to sleep.

 

Yunho wakes in the middle of the night to an empty futon. He sits up, blinking tiredly around the darkened room.

"Changmin?"

The god is standing against the sliding door, one of the shoji screens pulled aside. Moonlight spills through the glass, outlines his side profile, his hair sparkling and soft.

"What are you doing?" Yunho mumbles sleepily.

"Ending this," Changmin says. He turns around, and Yunho realises he's wearing his kimono.

He rubs at his eyes, trying to shake sleep off.

"Changminnie? What do you - "

"You're a fool," Changmin says, taking a step towards Yunho, voice strange. "A foolish boy."

Yunho stares at him in confusion and disbelief, tries to understand.

"Didn't your grandmother tell you this?" Changmin tilts his head to the side. "That youkai are not to be trusted?"

Unease creeps up Yunho's spine, a vague sort of fear that shakes him completely awake.

He sees a fox's tail shift under the blue kimono, he sees the smile of a wolf in the dark.

"Tell me, did you really think you were special? Did you think that I loved you?" Changmin's soft, melodic voice is now cold, cutting.

He can't seem to make himself move - he feels stapled to the floor as the universe tilts. He swallows, betrayal burning at his throat.

Changmin walks slowly to him and Yunho's hands clench at his sides; he wonders if he's dreaming - if he'll soon wake up to Changmin sleeping soundly next to him - and suddenly he's angry.

He's been stupid, so stupid.

"Why?" he growls, standing up. "Why?"

Changmin looks at him, cold and hard and piercing.

"I despise you," he hisses. "I wanted to kill you since that first night at the shore. Sweet, oblivious human," he croons. "Thinking I could be yours." His mouth twists in a snarl. "I hate humans," he spats. "All of you. I hate you!"

Yunho stalks in front of him, questions like ashes in his mouth.

"So it was all a lie?" he demands, and hates how he sounds desperate. "A game? What?"

Changmin's gaze falters for a moment and he swallows, looks away, then tosses his hair back.

Anger, hot and pulsing, surges through Yunho and he grabs at Changmin's shoulders. The creature shakes out of his grasp with a hiss, as if he can't bear being touched by Yunho, and it is at that moment that Yunho sees the knife in his hand.

Changmin lunges forward but not quick enough, and the knife grazes Yunho's shoulder. Yunho grabs his hand, trying to take it from him and Changmin twists, clawing at him. They go down in a tangle of kicks and scratches, their surroundings a blur.

"Not much of a god," Yunho breathes, "if I can overpower you so easily." Changmin snarls at the remark, pulls his hair, causing Yunho to cry out and finally frees his hand. He looks down at him, and hesitates for a moment - which for Yunho is enough. He knees Changmin in the stomach and gets him off him, then pins him down on the floor. He holds his hands in place, shaking the knife out of Changmin's grasp.

"Why?" he demands.

Changmin turns his eyes away, then back at Yunho, furious, wild. He's breathing hard, cheeks flushed and eyes black with anger. He purses his lips.

"You've forgotten me," he growls. "I'm this weak, pathetic being because humans have forgotten me." He looks away again, swallows in resentment.

"You asked why the shrine was unkempt," he continues. "Isn't it obvious? Humans have forgotten my existence, they don't care!"

Yunho feels him tremble in his hands. There's silence for a moment, and Yunho tries to process the information.

"And that justifies killing? I've done nothing to you!"

Changmin turns face back at him.

"I owe your kind nothing," he says and pushes up, trying to break free. He kicks a few times to no avail before thrashing harder and hitting Yunho on the chin with his elbow, effectively getting him off him. He reaches for the knife and Yunho launches at him, but Changmin is quicker; he gets hold of the knife and turns around, forcing Yunho on his back. The god's hand is instantly on his neck, blade pressing against his throat.

Changmin's fingers tremble around the knife. He looks at Yunho and Yunho looks back.

"I hate you. I hate how weak you make me!" he spats, desperate. "How you - "

He cuts himself off, shaking.

Changmin hangs his head, hair falling into his face, brushing against Yunho's forehead, lips inches apart from Yunho's. "Yunho - I - "

"I don't - I can't do it," he whispers, and rolls off.

Changmin stands up. He looks small and vulnerable, pupils blown.

He flees into the night.

 

 

Yunho is angry at first, furious at Changmin for manipulating him, angry at himself for believing a beautiful lie.

 _'Didn't your grandmother tell you? That youkai are not to be trusted?'_ the god's soft voice reverberates through his head, mocking him, and he hates him. He hates Changmin.

He keeps replaying the events of that night in his head, thinking and overthinking, clenching his fists in frustration and more anger, until he grows listless.

When the anger clears away, all that's left is a dull ache.

Hurt, because feelings don't go away, he discovers. Because he's still stupidly in love with Changmin, and his image hangs in the back of his mind; his eyes in the half dark, the eyes of a stranger, and then his flushed face and petulant mouth - the Changmin he knows, his Changmin.

Summer is almost over and soon he'll have to go back to the city. He passes by the cove, predictably finding no one there, and he stands and watches the ocean for a while. Questions whirl in his mind, about his last almost-kiss with Changmin. It was a mistake to go there, he decides and goes home.

He tries to work through his melancholy by spending time in the workshop but there's nothing for him to do, so he sits in the back veranda, fingers tracing over the deer mask he never finished.

He remembers a story he heard as a child, one of the few his grandmother told him.

One night, drawn by the lights and the festivities, the water god took human form and appeared at the summer festival. He wandered around, eating local candy and even talked to people. But his kimono was too exquisite, it shone blue like the sea, embroidered with high waves - that were real, the villagers would insist - and gave him away. Scared by the attention, as he wasn't used to many people, the god fled to the sea.

Yunho smiles involuntarily, thinks affectionately _'Changminnie'_.

He realizes, and it's bittersweet, that he misses his presence. He misses having his legs intertwined with him, Changmin laughing on his shoulder.

He misses Changmin.

 

 

Rain pours down, makes the world blurry and transient.

Yunho watches it wash away everything redundant, leaving the afternoon sparkling and new. It's over soon, and Yunho hurries out the door. Light catches in the puddles on the way, and he walks faster. He has to see Changmin. He has to.

Yunho has been going to the seaside every day, only to be met with the emptiness of the small rocky gulf, disappointment in his stomach.

He finds Changmin sitting at the seafront, hunched over, looking down at the water retreating, then coming back again. He's drenched, which suggests he was there, in human form through the rain.

Yunho walks soundly to his side.

"You'll catch a cold," he says.

Changmin stands up quickly, throws him a quick sideways glance, and mutters, "It's fine."

A few minutes pass, and neither of them speaks. Changmin is avoiding his gaze, eyes down at the purple-blues of the sea, guarded.

"Here," Yunho says finally, extending his hand. "I promised I would make you a new one."

Changmin takes the deer mask from him, a little surprised, looks at Yunho.

"It's ugly," he says, non-chalant. He tosses his head, looking at Yunho like he's expecting something, challenging him.

Embarrassed, Yunho wants to answer back with banter, because he knows this, and he missed it, but it's a little awkward, a little cold and hard between them.

"So were you lying to me all this time?" he blurts out instead. "To get some sort of revenge?"

Changmin hugs his arm with his hand, defensive.

"I didn't lie to you," he turns his eyes away. "When I first saw you that night. . . I was curious. And then I started. . . I didn't expect to - "

His lips set in a thin line, brows furrowed, like he doesn't want to say more. His breath is coming in short breaks.

"I was so angry, with. . . everything. I couldn't accept becoming this weak. Do you think the god of the waves would try to kill you with a knife?" he gives a bitter laugh. "The trick with the waves you've seen? That's. . . all I can do. I get weaker every year. I'm afraid I - "

Yunho looks at his side profile, glittering in the sun, his wet hair clinging to his face, the rise and fall of his chest.

"Changmin - "

"I don't want to disappear," he says, voice almost lost in the rhythmic sound of the waves.

Yunho sees his incomprehensible lover, the god with the lonely eyes and the lips that taste of storm and he never wants to let go.

He reaches for him, turns him around to face him.

"I won't let you."

Changmin looks at him, eyes unsure and huge, struggles with himself, then says, "Forgive me."

He continues, before Yunho can reply, voice above a whipser, "I'm in love with you."

There's silence, and Yunho smiles. Gods are tricksters, he should probably run away, but Changmin is sweet, sweet and his, and he wants to kiss his flushed cheeks and the salt on his face; Changmin is his and he isn't letting go.

He leans in and kisses him, desperate, heart full.

When they pull away, Changmin smiles, embarrassed and hopeful and eyes mismatched.

"Take me home."

**Author's Note:**

> *Oni are demons/ogres/devils in Japanese folklore  
> ** Shoji is is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dji)  
> *** Poi is the special scooper used in goldfish scooping  
> **** Youkai are spirits/gods/monsters in Japanese folklore  
> The myth about Susanowo is partially an actual Japanese myth (I changed it a little), the rest is out of my ass. There are many things in this story that are there just for my amusement :')


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